Europe’s Focus Is on Removing Euro Failure Risk, Katainen Says

Dec. 17 (Bloomberg) -- Finnish Prime Minister Jyrki
Katainen said European policy makers will use the next six
months to remove risks of a euro breakup.

“We’ll support healthy countries so that they keep access
to markets and don’t topple and have to be rescued by others,
because that would be a very difficult situation,” Katainen
said at a panel discussion in Helsinki today. “This would
hopefully help eliminate the risk of the euro’s failure. That’s
one of the key targets for the coming six months.”

Efforts to tackle Europe’s debt crisis, now in its fourth
year, are starting to make an impression on bond markets.
Spanish and Italian yields fell after European Central Bank
President Mario Draghi in July pledged to do “whatever” it
takes to keep the euro together, and have continued to ease
since. Europe’s leaders have also agreed on measures including
fiscal discipline and last week decided on a single bank
supervisor to break the link between banks and sovereigns.

Katainen said he’s “mainly speaking about large
countries” in the monetary union.

“What we can do is to remove the risk of the euro’s
failure,” Katainen said. “If that risk isn’t removed, this
crisis will never end.”